Nagueyalti Warren

People @ Goddard

People @ Goddard

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Biography

Nagueyalti Warren came to Goddard College's low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program in the summer of 2003, wanting to complete a novel and to improve her ability to write poetry. Having worked for 15 years as an educator and administrator (assistant and associate dean) in a research university in the South, Ms. Warren writes, “To become a better writer and complete two creative projects was always my goal—not the acquisition of another degree. Fortunately, I was able to do both—the projects and the degree.”

A Cave Canem fellow, Ms. Warren has published her poetry in Essence, Gathering Ground Tenth Anniversary Anthology, Obsidian II and The African American Review. Her manuscript, Margaret (circa 1834-1858), which was completed at Goddard, recently won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Prize, with publication by Lotus Press. Her appointment to the core faculty in African American Studies at Emory University took place Fall 2005.

People @ Goddard

Interview with Nagueyalti Warren

The following interview was conducted by MFA in Creative Writing faculty member Jan Clausen (JC) in April, 2006:

JC: You completed your MFA with an ambitious two-part creative thesis: a long narrative poem, Margaret, and a novel, Wade in the Water. This is quite unusual in that many MFA in Writing programs restrict students to a single genre. What was it like to work simultaneously in two genres?